Papiamentu Reader

Spelling and Pronunciation

The spelling (orthography) of Papiamentu is the topic of much debate in the ABC
Islands, the essential disagreement being whether to use a phonological spelling
(that is, one based on the way the words are pronounced) or an etymological
spelling (one which reflects the origin of the words, whether Spanish, Dutch,
etc.). Both have advantages and disadvantages.

In 1976, the government of Curasao accepted a provisional orthography for
education purposes and for general use in Curasao, which is based on
pronunciation, with some consideration given to etymology.

In this exposition of the orthography, it is the provisional system of Curasao
which has been adopted as the norm. There are several reasons for this decision:
first, Curasao has the largest population, and also the largest number of
newspapers published in Papiamentu; second, although there are likely to be
revisions in this system (see Richard Hooy, to appear, for some suggestions for
revision) much work has already been done both on and in this system, and it is
now being used in schools in Curasao; third, a norm must be decided upon in
order to point out variations. The adoption of this system as a basis does not,
therefore, indicate that the author intends to imply that this system is
intrinsically better than any other, in existence or to be devised. It is to be
understood that the list of common variations does not constitute a correction of
the spelling, it is simply a means of facilitating exposition.

The following exposition of the orthography is based on that found in Ortografia
di papiamentu, Edishon di Sekshon Informative di Schooladviesdienst pa
promoshon di bon uzo di Papiamentu den ensefiansa i komunidat. Korsou, mart
1983.

Item

Pronunciation

Example

a

as in SE' and'

amigu

b

as in SE 'bo/

buki

ch

as in SE' change'

kacho

d

as in SE' do'

dos

dj

as in SE 'judge'

djaka

e

asinSE 'pef

kenepa

e

in final syllable, before 1, r, as a in

SE 'about' (shwa)

apel

e

as in SE 'air'

djavieme ^

f

as in SE' far'

fabor

g

before a, o, u, as in

SE

'good'

paga

e before r in initial syllable, and in the triphthong uei, is pronounced the same as fe, but the
accent is not written e.g. perdd. In monosyllabic words, the accent is written to distinguish
homographs, e.g. sker/sk6r

VU

s

in final position, or before e, i, similar to Scottish ioch'

brug, vigila^

h

as in SE 'house'

hasi

i

asinSE^eaf

dia

k

as in SE ' case'

kome

1

as in SE 'low'

lomba

m

as in SE 'mother'

marka

n

as in SE 'no'

nada

n

in final position, except after ^, as in SE 'sing' (velar)

laman

n

as in SE 'companion', but with velarization as for n
above

hana

o

as in SE 'boat', without the 'w' glide

ocho^

o

as in SE 'or'

boshi

P

as in SE 'pat'

parti

r

pronounce with a flap of the tongue, as in Spanish 'pero'

riku, ora

s

as in SE 'sink', never as in 'as', 'sure' or 'measure'

seru

sh

as in SE 'shop'

dushi

t

as in SE 'top'

toko

u

as in SE 'food'

tempu

u

similar to SE e in 'herb'

truk

u

as in French 'tu' (high front rounded)

minikt

V

as in SE 'vaUe/

verbo

w

as in SE 'well'

wowo

y

as in SE 'yellow'

yu

z

as in SE 'dozen'

zona

25

as in SE 'measure'

zjilet

The consonants c, j, q, and x are used only in the digraphs ch, dj, and zj, and in

names of people, places, and other words taken from other languages.

to preserve the sound as SE 'good' before e, ^, and i, the g is followed by a u, e.g.: sigui,
except in the case of e 'shwa', as in tiger.

even in texts using the provisional system of Curasao sometimes final '-o' even though the
pronunciation is /-u/ (though variation does occur between final /u/ and final /o/)

Diphthongs and triphthongs

These present no particular problem; however, in this system, y and w never
occur finally (e.g. bai, friu) or between two vowels (Antia, ynana) as glides
(note however the words awa, awe, ayera, etc. where they are necessary to the
pronunciation). Conversely, i and u never occur initially (webu, yega).

Written accents

Apart from those accents which indicate a difference in pronunciation e.g. e vs.
e, the acute accent (' ) is used in Papiamentu to indicate a departure from the
basic word stress pattern, in which the stress falls on the penultimate syllable
(next to last: word stress in Papiamentu is always counted from the end of the
word) if the word ends in a vowel, or on the final syllable if the word ends in a
consonant, e.g.

Basic pattern:

grupo

konfidenshal

korant

Stress falls on final syllable of a word ending in a vowel:

Integra
salu

Stress falls on the antepenultimate syllable (second from last) of a word
ending in a vowel:

lingwistiko
intimo

Stress falls on third from last syllable of a word ending in a vowel:

awaseru
antayera

Stress falls on penultimate syllable of a word ending in a consonant:

difisil
hoben

N.B.: The stress pattern of a word does not change if the plural ending
-nan occurs.

Common voriotjons

ar/or
au
c
c
c

J
ny/nj

o
u/uu
oe
si
w

y

in final position instead of -a/6

as in 'ou'

as in SE 'cat'

as in SE 'cite'

in the endings -cion, -cial, as in SE sh

ash

asn

in final position, as u

as ii (high front rounded)

asu

assh

in final position, as u in final position

in final position, as 1 in final position

lugar/afor ^

aumenta

cu

acepta

intencion/ofi ci al

jardinero

hanya

papiamento

hur/huur

Toe la

ofisial

hudiw

bay

Howe, Kate, and Roland deCuba. 1993. Papiamentu
Reader. Kensington: Dunwoody Press.